ARLINGTON, Va. — The National Board for Professional Teaching Standards has named pioneering STEM educator Peggy Brookins as Executive Vice President, effective December 1st, 2014. A National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) who has championed a rigorous STEM education for all students, particularly girls and minority students, Brookins co-founded the Engineering and Manufacturing Institute of Technology (EMIT) at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, in 1994. She will leave her dual role there as director and mathematics instructor in late November. In her 36 years in the profession, Brookins has received numerous honors, including being named a Florida Education Association “Everyday Hero” and Excellence in Teaching recipient, as well as an Aspen Scholar. In July 2014, President Barack Obama named Brookins to the President’s Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for African Americans.

“When we set out to find a Board-certified teacher with the experience and expertise to help lead the National Board into the future, we could not have hoped to find a more qualified candidate than our own former board member, Peggy Brookins,” said Ronald Thorpe, president and CEO of the National Board. “From founding a thriving STEM school to testifying before the U.S. Senate, training thousands of teachers across the country on the AFT’s Thinking Mathematics program and coaching a national-qualifying FIRST Robotics team, she has done it all. Her dedication to her students and the profession is unmatched.”

In addition to serving on the NBPTS Board of Directors from 2008-2011, Brookins has served on several professional boards shaping education policy and practice, including the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), Achieve, the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) Content Technical Working Group, the Conference Board of Mathematical Sciences Ad Hoc Committee on Teachers as Professionals, and InBloom.

“The focus of my life’s work and passion has always been quality instruction and student learning,” Brookins said. “I am thrilled to be joining an incredible team working to elevate the teaching profession and give teachers a true voice in education policy. Having the opportunity to help lead this work at the National Board—an organization that has defined accomplished teaching—is a dream come true.”

Former West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education and chair of the NBPTS Board of Directors said: “From the classroom to the boardroom, Peggy Brookins exemplifies the leadership potential we see in all NBCTs. She will be instrumental to our efforts of mobilizing NBCTs to advance the profession and putting all new and aspiring teachers on a path to achieving Board Certification.”

Marion County Public Schools Superintendent George Tomyn said: “If you want the best example of teaching by leading and leading by teaching, no one is better than Peggy Brookins. She has influenced many of our students in such a positive, powerful way. We wish her the best and know she will impact even more students in her new role.”

Brookins achieved her Board certification in Adult and Young Adolescent Mathematics in 2003 and renewed in 2013. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Florida, and was inducted into the university’s Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 1978 and its College of Health and Human Performance’s Hall of Fame in 2009.